Saturday, October 10, 2009

My Heroes Day - Oct 10, 2009

I have heard that you can help keep someone's memories alive by occasionally saying their name, this is my place to say My Heroes Names.

These are My Heroes

By: Eldon R. Brown SR

First and Foremost, My Dad: Leonard J. Brown 1921 - 1998

My Dad was not an educated man, he only went to the third grade, but he was the; smartest, wisest man I have ever known. He could fix or build anything, as shown in the photo below. While clearing a home site (1949), when I was three years old, he was inventing an easy way to move and lift logs, with the aid of the back wheel of an old car that he converted into a tractor.

My Dad was the Original MacGyver.

My Dad encouraged me to get a good education and provided many opportunities to explore my interests.

My Dad would never say "no" to any of my requests, but would encourage me to follow my ideas.

A Friend of the Family: Glenn Ronfeldt - a Second Father Figure

Glenn introduced me to electronics at about the age of 7, by giving me a "Radio Kit" - which was a medium size box filled with parts; coils, resistors, capacitors, tubes and connectors. I worked with those parts for years, building many things, most of which did not work, but I used a lot of solder and spent a lot of time doing it. The kit started me off and it kept me off-of-the-streets and working on electronic projects.

When Glenn passed away, I collected parts and returned to him the equivalent "Radio Kit", made up of modern micro electronic parts. The replacement kit was contained in a small glass vial, which I tucked into his shirt pocket, just before they closed his casket. But that, by far, will NOT repay my debt.

Mr. Heath, provided the information and encouragement to learn the theory and details of electronics - Ohms Law, RC Time Constants, Inductance, Capacitance, and Tubes. In the class we built many kits and projects.

Mr. Heath and I both took the Amateur Radio Novice test about the same time, he became WN6CMD (I think) and I became WN6CMS.